Surface Tension

About

Surface Tension explores contrasts between objecthood and its relationship to painting, sculpture, & photography. The artists included in this exhibition work with objects through image depiction and physical manipulation in order to juxtapose content and blur visual and physical boundaries that create new meaning.

Opening at OyG on Saturday February 5, 2022 from 1 - 6 PM, Surface Tension explores works that playfully make critical use of traditional notions of the picture plane and our experience of looking. Upon approach these works expand beyond their initially perceived sense of flatness and exhibit a resistance to the historic and often assumed presentation of painting - a fixed image displayed on a wall with an ideal frontal perspective viewpoint. 

Working with the slippage and contrast between the real and the simulated, the flat and the dimensional, or the abstract and representational, these works engage the viewer physically, conceptually, and perceptually. The more time spent closely looking, the more these works reveal a richness of secrets, stories, and content.

The objecthood of many works in the show blur boundaries between reality and artifice - as the works reveal physical and illusionistic surprises - like doubled images, surprise reliefs, or everyday materials repurposed or investigated in a new light. 

Objects represented throughout the show range from art historic references to still life to contemporary things of daily familiarity and work in tandem with representations or depictions of objects and their domestic spaces - immersing us in an environment where specific combinations open up narratives, histories, and a curiosity for more connections.